Human Rights Watch has urged the Bangladesh government to stop its proposal to lower the age of marriage for girls to 16 from 18.
At the 2014 Girl Summit in London, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to end child marriage of under-15s by 2021 and reduce by more than one-third the number of girls married between the ages of 15 and 18, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the practice by 2041. However, child marriage is still an epidemic in Bangladesh and requires the government to act on its promises to tackle the problem, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The issue was raised in a view exchange meeting organised by HRW yesterday at the National Press Club in the capital. In its 134-page report, “Marry Before Your House is Swept Away: Child Marriage in Bangladesh,” HRW welcomed the government’s commitment to end child marriage, but said little action had followed pledges to end the practice made by the prime minister last year. It added that attempts to change the law on child marriage threatened to make the situation worse.
After her July 2014 pledge to end child marriage by 2041, the Bangladesh prime minister attempted to lower the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 16 years old, raising serious doubts about her commitment, the report claimed.
Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage of girls under the age of 15 in the world, with 29% of girls in Bangladesh married before age 15, it said quoting a UNICEF study.
For its report, HRW interviewed 114 people, including 59 girls and young women who were married before they were 18 in the past five years. The youngest married girl interviewed was 10 years old.
Poverty was given as the main reason girls were married off at a young age, a situation compounded by the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters, said HRW. The discussion shed light on how girls are considered a burden in a society, particularly, when a natural disaster occurs.
One of the interviewees, Parvin, married at the age of 11, feels insecure that her mother’s house will be washed away by river erosion before the end of this year. Her husband lives with her and her family in Laxmipur, but has been away for a few months looking for work.
HRW conducted the research in five districts – Gaibandha, Sirajganj, Dhaka, Laximpur, Noakhali and Khulna – between September and November last year with participation of parents and local officials.
Another case study shows Bibi, 17, from Laxmipur, married at the age of 11, was forced to quit school after marriage. She returned to her parents because her husband physically abused her. Now a local village court will decide whether she will return to her husband’s house or not.
Child marriage has been illegal in Bangladesh since 1929, and the minimum age of marriage has been set at 18 for women and 21 for men since the 1980s.
“The Bangladesh government should follow through vigorously and promptly on the public commitments Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made to end child marriage,” said Heather Barr, senior researcher on women’s rights at Human Rights Watch.
“The first step should be to back away immediately from the proposal to lower the age of marriage for girls to 16,” she said.
Human Rights Watch also detailed the damage that child marriage does to the lives of girls and their families in Bangladesh, including the discontinuation of secondary education, serious health consequences including death as a result of early pregnancy, abandonment, and domestic violence from spouses and in-laws.
